Last Call for Farley’s Bar and Restaurant

SCRANTON — A fixture of the electric city, Farley’s Bar and Restaurant will close its doors for good on Friday.

It’s among the oldest businesses in downtown Scranton, and other businesses said it will be a big loss.

You’ll hear it called ‘an institution’ in downtown Scranton. The green awnings and distinctive light fixtures are a fixture themselves for courthouse square.

Farley’s Bar and Restaurant has sat on the corner of Adams Avenue and Linden Street in Scranton for almost 30 years, operated for 25 years by the Young family who has served food and drinks to famous people, but mostly just to old friends who often met here.

“It’s sad, it’s definitely sad, the guy put his life into it. After a while it’s not just the money, it becomes like your baby, you know? And all of a sudden it’s gone,” said Jerry Mizrachi of Abe’s Deli.

Mizrachi owns another downtown Scranton institution, Abe’s Deli on North Washington Avenue. He said the loss of another city mainstay hurts all the downtown businesses.

“In all the past, there were more people downtown and just enough restaurants per person,” said Mizrachi.

The owner of Farley’s didn’t blame the economy, just said it’s time to move on. Farley’s is the second bar and restaurant to close downtown in the past 12 months. Whistle’s closed last year.

“I guess I just took a sigh as a businessman. I just think less options in the city, you know, we want options in the city. We want 50 businesses in the city,” said Giovanni Piccolino of Buona Pizza.

Piccolino runs Buona Pizza on Lackawanna Avenue. The place has been around for 40 years. He’s sorry to see Farley’s close its doors.

Farley’s owners didn’t want to share their story on camera, but they did want to say goodbye to their customers. They’ll hold a goodbye party at the restaurant on Friday before closing up for good.